14th February Valentine's Day

It is Valentine's day and there is nothing more romantic than when you and your partner share your bugs with one another - poor John is now beginning to suffer with signs of his lurgy getting worse.  We neither of us like being ill and so tend to ignore the odd ache and pain but sadly this cannot be ignored.  We were trying to do our best by treating today like any other Friday and we were going to pickleball this afternoon even though I seriously doubted whether or not I would be very effective.

We have had some exciting news about the Karithea taverna which is down the bottom of the village on the stretch of road which is a phenomenon in that when you think you are travelling uphill you are in fact travelling downhill - it is a trick of the terrain apparently.  Many years ago we used to frequent it regularly with Dad when he organised walks starting and finishing there and at the time the owner   Harris from Droushia's wife used to be the cook and she was really good.  After Harris and his family stopped running it, it had a chequered history and has been closed now for several years.  The exciting news is that our friend Stephen Haughan, the author, is reopening the establishment in partnership with his friend Tracy (who used to have a good reputation when she did the food at Sa Buneri).  It is going to be a diner serving comfort food and one end will be dedicated to books and Stephen will perform readings there.  He is a man on a mission and he and Tracy are working their socks off getting it ready for its grand re-opening in May.  It will now be called the Gravity Road Diner.

We stopped en route to pickleball via the winery to replenish the wine rack.  It being Valentine's we have asked Di and Rob to come for a meal with us which has become something of a tradition over the past couple of years.  I have had a lamb tagine on the go for the past couple of days so we think Red is the right colour to accompany and our red stocks were lacking.  The meal was something easy and quick to have bubbling away and, as we haven't seen Di and Rob socially for some time, it will be lovely to catch up with them and see how they are.

We didn't do too badly at pickleball all things considered and it was good to get back into our normal routine and to see Mum as we had thought it was foolish for us to see her when I was so poorly just in case I gave her something worse than the cold she has already coped with.  She does seem none the worse for the injection in her finger thankfully so it means she can continue to play for a while longer yet.


It was really lovely to have Di and Rob round and everyone seemed to enjoy the food - I had to admit that this was the first time I had bought lamb from the supermarket here and was very dubious about it - the lamb here seems very very fatty and can sometimes taste very strong - it is a flavour I don't like so didn't want what I had bought to be like that.  I am happy to say that marinaded and cooked over 48 hours it was soft and succulent and full of the flavours in the stock.  It was served with couscous which John would normally say he didn't like but this was full of nuts and fruit to go with the tagine and it was really nice.

Although neither of us are feeling fighting fit it didn't stop us enjoying the evening which was one of good wine, good food and good friends.  We are blessed!